Lunches
by bluedragon03
Summary: One shot high school AU. Kagome notices that Inuyasha never brings a lunchbox, so she decides to start packing one for him everyday. They begin to bond over their shared lunches, and slowly Inuyasha realizes that he's falling for the kind girl who not only started packing lunch for a stranger, but offered him a place to stay when his brother kicked him out. (Inuvember 2015 Day 8)


**Lunches**

He wished that she would leave him alone. Why did she care if he was always alone, and that he never ate lunch?

He glared at the lunchbox on the ground in front of him. What was she playing at, bringing him lunch? He wasn't her boyfriend, and he wasn't her friend, so why did she care?

"I noticed you never eat lunch," she had said, "so I brought you some."

"And what if I don't want it?"

"Then you don't have to eat it."

"Why did you bring it for me if you didn't want me to eat it?"

"I only brought it so you would have the option of eating," she replied, "tucking her raven hair behind her ear, "it's not my problem if you don't."

He'd scoffed at her back as she walked away with her friends.

Now he reached out cautiously and opened the lid, examining the contents suspiciously. As much as he hated to admit it, the food looked delicious. The smell wafted up to his unusually keen nose and made his mouth water. Reluctantly, he picked up the chopsticks provided and started eating. It was as delicious as it looked. After the first few cautious bites, he began gulping the food down eagerly.

He hadn't even realized how hungry he'd been until he'd started eating. _When was the last time I ate?_ He wondered. He went through a checklist in his mind of the past day. He hadn't eaten breakfast that morning, or, now that he thought about it, dinner the night before. He never ate lunch, so that meant the last meal he'd had was breakfast the day before. _Damn,_ he thought. _You need to pay more attention, the last thing you need is to collapse in school. You don't want Social Services to look into your housing situation. They'll just try to dump you on Sesshomaru again._

After his parents had died he'd been stuck with his ass of an older brother who hated him. He never even tried to stop Inuyasha when he ran away, which was frequently. They hated each other, and Sesshomaru only tolerated Inuyasha for the week or so between Social Services dropping him off and Inuyasha running away again because his father had asked Sesshomaru to take care of him. Sesshomaru's version of taking care of Inuyasha was letting him do whatever he wanted and not making a big deal when Inuyasha came home at all hours of the night.

Carefully he place the chopsticks back into the lunchbox and closed the lid. He tied the cloth back around it and tucked it into his jacket pocket. He sat around waiting for the end of lunch bell to ring, and when it did he made his way back to class, feeling uneasy. His pride argued against him returning the lunchbox, because then she would know that he'd eaten the lunch. She might also ask if he liked it, and he's have to thank her. His mother might have died when he was still young but she didn't teach him to be rude to people who did nice things to him. He hated thanking people. He hated admitting that he was indebted to another person, owing someone a favor was something he wasn't willing to do.

When he entered the classroom he saw her already sitting in her desk with her books for the next subject out on her desk, chatting with her friends. He brushed past her desk and dropped the empty lunchbox on her desk, muttering an abrupt thanks before moving on without waiting for a response. He felt her and her friends watching him as he walked to the back of the classroom to his desk and sat down, staring out of the window, determinedly not looking at her. He could hear them whispering and had no doubts that they were talking about him.

At the end of the day he rushed out of school, still not looking at her, embarrassed for some strange reason. He walked around the city for a few hours before finding a place to spend the night and hunkering down.

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The next few days were much of the same, she kept packing a lunch for him, and he would snap at her when she offered it, and he would give her the same awkward 'thank you' afterwards. It wasn't until two weeks later that things changed.

"Can I sit with you today?" She asked.

"What?"

"I don't feel like sitting with my friends today. I don't feel like sitting with a crowd today."

"And you thought sitting with me was a good idea?" He replied.

"I want to get to know the person I bring lunch to every day."

"And why would you want to do that?"

"Because I want to know why you're alone every day."

"Well that's no secret," he replied, "It's because I don't want people annoying me while I eat."

"That might be part of it," the girl said, "but I think there's more to the story."

"And what am I, just some puzzle you're itchin' to solve?"

"Well I was hoping to be your friend," she said. "It doesn't seem like you have any."

"Keh," he scoffed, "I don't even know your name."

"It's Kagome, and your name is Inuyasha. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's eat lunch."

He squinted up at her suspiciously, then reluctantly agreed. He couldn't very well turn her down, after all she had been the one making his lunches for the past two weeks.

"Alright fine, I hope you're okay with eating on the roof."

"No problem."

He sighed, irritated. He didn't really want any company, but Kagome didn't seem like the type to give up easily. He figured if he humored her this time, then she would learn her lesson and not ask again. He wasn't exactly the type to make friends, if he endured her just this once she probably go running and leave him in peace.

He led her up the steps, only half listening to the story she was telling him about how her best friend Sango had punched out some pervert who had felt her up before school.

"Your friend sounds like the kind of person you don't mess with," he said idly.

"Oh, she's not," Kagome replied merrily. "But that guy can't seem to get a clue, he's done this before, and each time she knocks the crap out of him, but he keeps coming back for more."

"Is it that pervert Miroku?" Inuyasha asked.

He'd seen the guy around, flirting with all the girls, groping them and acting like lecher in general. He didn't understand why the girls all liked him, he was so obviously a player.

"Yeah actually," Kagome said, "how did you know?"

"He's a pervert, it was a safe guess," Inuyasha replied. Kagome chuckled. Inuyasha was surprised to find out he really liked the sound of it.

"I guess you're right."

It was the most pleasant lunch he'd had in a long time, he decided, not that he ever would have admitted it to her. The thank you he offered her this time was much less awkward, but by no means friendly. Despite himself, he found himself hoping that she would join him for lunch the next day as well. She surprised him when he returned her lunchbox.

"Is there anything in particular that you had in mind for tomorrow?" She asked.

He stopped, shocked. Was she seriously asking what he wanted? Inuyasha wasn't sure why it mattered, but it felt like this changed things. Up until now it had felt more like just some random girl doing something nice for a random stranger, an act of kindness that could be retracted anyday. But now that she was asking for a request it felt more...assured, like she was committing to bring his lunch everyday. Like she wasn't bringing lunch for a random stranger, but for a friend. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"I- Um, what?" He stammered, disarmed.

"Is there something specific that you wanted to have for lunch tomorrow? I'm not really in the mood for anything in particular, so it doesn't matter to me."

There it was again, that strange feeling. Kagome was offering to let him choose, making a commitment to still be there, with a lunch in hand, tomorrow. He didn't know how to react. Nobody had ever stayed in his life for long, no one had ever made promises to stay in his life for very long; and no one had certainly talked about their relationship in the future, even just a day in the future, with such certainty. LIke it was obvious, a given, really. When Inuyasha was silent Kagome's best friend, Sango, piped up at her shoulder.

"You guy's should have breakfast for lunch!" Sango said.

"We had that yesterday," Kagome told her.

 _We had that yesterday,_ something about those words struck a chord in him. We, like they had been eating lunch together. He didn't know why the fact that Kagome had been eating the same thing as him had surprised him. Perhaps he had expected her to only pack scraps, just whatever had been laying around for him. He hadn't expected her to bother to actually cook for him everyday. Yesterday he had assumed that she had given him leftovers from her breakfast. The fact that she made him the same meal she made herself meant she looked at him as equal. He hadn't known anyone to not look down on him in a long time.

"What about hot dogs shaped like an octopus?" Kagome laughed.

'Alright, I'll make those then."

Kagome ate with him every day that week, and then every day the next week. On the Wednesday after that, Sango joined them. She was followed by that pervert, who, besides his lechery, turned out to not be that bad. Those two ate with them once or twice a week, but his favorite were the days when Kagome ate with him by herself. He found himself uncharacteristically cracking jokes, just to hear her laugh.

He got to know her pretty well, and he was more comfortable around her than he was around anyone. He ended up telling her things he would never normally tell anyone else, including things about his homelife.

"What's the matter Inuyasha?" She had asked one day. He grunted angrily and glared out across the cityscape.

"The headmaster figured out I ran away again and called my social worker. They dumped me back at Sesshomaru's again."

"Sesshomaru?"

"My older brother." Inuyasha had forgotten he'd never said his name before. It was always "that bastard" or "my asshole of a brother"

"Where have you been sleeping?" Kagome asked, concerned.

"Just around, there's a place that takes in kids like me that I sleep in sometimes." Kagome pulled out her phone and typed a quick message and was silent for a moment. Inuyasha squinted suspiciously at her phone, watching her face carefully when it pinged. She smiled, then glanced at him. She remained silent for a moment like she was trying to decide how best to say what was on her mind before she spoke.

"You know, if your brother annoys you again, we have a guest room. You don't have to sleep on the streets, and don't tell me you don't, because I know you do sometimes." Inuyasha blinked in shock, then stared wide-eyed at her. Was she seriously offering to let him stay with her? "I already asked Mom, and she said it was fine, and you could stay as often as you like for as long as you like."

Inuyasha was dumbstruck. He couldn't speak, not to thank her, turn her down, or snap that he didn't need her help. His voice had abandoned him.

No one. No one had ever offered to let him stay with them, besides the people in the house he slept at sometimes, and they let anybody stay. Even Sesshomaru only let him stay because it's what their father had wanted. No one had ever offered him shelter because they genuinely cared about him and wanted to have a safe place to go. His throat closed up, and his eyes burned. He looked away from her, pretending to be very interested in a crack on the roof of the school. When finally he thought he might be able to respond, he risked speaking.

"I-I guess that would be okay. I mean," he added hurriedly, "if I ain't got nowhere better." He risked a glance over at Kagome to see a smile that was a little too knowing for his liking gracing her lips.

"Alright, that's fine. You don't have too, but now you don't have to sleep on the streets ever again. Our door is always open to you."

"Keh," Inuyasha said. He paused for a minute before continuing. "Where do you live anyway?" Kagome gave him an incredulous look. "What?" He snapped.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi," she said slowly, as if that were supposed to tell him something.

"Yeah, I know." Inuyasha said bluntly. He thought Kagome might be going crazy. How the hell was he supposed to know where she lived?

"I live at Higurashi shrine." She said.

"Oh." He paused. "I guess I never gave it much thought."

"You know where HIgurashi shrine is right?"

"Yeah," he replied, "I guess I should have figured it out sooner."

"Don't worry about it," Kagome said.

The lunch bell rang and they both made their way back to class, walking in comfortable silence.

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That night Inuyasha laid on his bed in his brother's house with an arm thrown over his eyes, thinking about Kagome's offer.

"Our door is always open to you," Kagome had said. Inuyasha felt his face heat up. No one had ever been that welcoming to him. NO one had ever smiled at him that way, at least not since his mother had died. It'd been a long time since someone had looked at him with love in their eyes. The way Kagome looked at him reminded him of that, and it made his heart stutter.

 _You idiot,_ he thought. _What are you doing, getting feelings for her. She obviously doesn't feel that way about you, how could she/ You're just her charity project._

Even as he thought the words he knew they were lies. Kagome wouldn't think of any of her friends that way. He knew Kagome genuinely thought of him as a friend, even if what he wouldn't let himself admit was that he wanted more.

 _It would probably be a bad idea, you staying under the same roof as her._

But Kagome was smart, and she would know once he ran away again he would have nowhere else to go, and she would be hurt and angry if he slept on the streets. He didn't know what to do, he wasn't sure he could control himself if he stayed at her house, spending that much time around her was a recipe for lapses in judgement. And if he had a lapse in judgement, whether he would wind up getting kicked out and losing his only friend, or they would end up together and he would hurt her in the end. He wasn't made for relationships.

 _So what can you do?_ He thought.

 _You know what you can do,_ a mean little voice in the back of his head said. _If you can't sleep on the streets and you won't stay with Kagome, you have to stay here._

Inuyasha groaned out loud at the thought of that. He had no choice, he would have to stay with his brother for as long as he could. _I'll have to stay under Sesshomaru's radar._ _No causing trouble._ That wouldn't be easy. He and his brother naturally got along badly, and Sesshomaru used practically anything that came out of Inuyasha's mouth against him. He took a deep breath and made up his mind to behave himself around his brother from now on. Sesshomaru would definitely know something was up, but he could deal with that. He flicked his lamp off and rolled over, closing his eyes. If he was going to put up with Sesshomaru then he was going to need his rest.

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"I see you got caught sleeping outside again," Sesshomaru said when he walked into the kitchen the next morning. "Don't you have any friends who are willing to shelter you, or are you that pathetic?" _Yes, I do have a friend,_ he thought, but he didn't say that. He didn't say anything, he just shoved the last of his breakfast into his mouth and made to leave the kitchen.

"My, you're awfully quiet this morning, are you hiding something from me, little brother?" The last two words of that sentence were loaded with sarcasm, but Inuyasha didn't take the bait.

"Nope," he said, careful to keep the anger that he always felt when Sesshomaru was around out of his voice. "I just have a mouthful of food." He slipped out of the kitchen and left the house before Sesshomaru could say another word.

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"How was your morning?" Kagome asked cautiously. "Did Sesshomaru give you any trouble?" Inuyasha considered his words before speaking. Sango and Miroku were eating with them today, and he didn't want to reveal too much to them about what his life was like. Currently they were both watching him curiously, waiting for his answer. He wondered how much Kagome had told them.

He opened his mouth to answer, but a loud slapping sound interrupted him. He glanced over at Sango and Miroku, who now had a large red mark on his face, and Sango was looking furious. Inuyasha turned back to Kagome.

"A little bit, he didn't just say much. Just called me pathetic and asked if I was hiding something from him."

"Why would he think that?" Kagome asked.

"Because I didn't snap at him. I decided I'm going to try and stay with him as long as I can."

"That's good," Kagome said, "so you're trying not to argue?" Inuyasha nodded.

"Which pretty much involves me not talking to him, ever." Kagome was silent.

"You and your brother don't get on well?" Miroku asked.

"That's an understatement," Inuyasha scoffed. "We hate each other. Last time I left it was because he kicked my ass and I had to miss school." Kagome looked alarmed.

"Does he hit you often?" There was a tone in her voice that said if he answered incorrectly she was going to do something stupid.

"Just when I hit him first," Inuyasha said, and grinned lopsidedly at her. It wasn't entirely true, Sesshomaru started fights as often as Inuyasha did, but he didn't want Kagome to know that. She looked appeased and went back to her lunch. "One of these day's I'll beat him too."

"You should be more careful," Kagome said, "he could press charges and have you sent to juvenile."

"He wouldn't do that. He keeps me out of jail for the same reason he tolerates me living with him, because he liked our father and father asked him to take care of me. Not sending me to jail and letting me sleep in his house is his version of 'taking care of me'." Kagome nodded, she knew all of this already, but Miroku and Sango were looking at him, seeming surprised.

"What?" Inuyasha snapped at them, "you got a problem with me?"

"Not at all," Miroku said. Inuyasha rolled his eyes at them and looked back down at his lunchbox. It was empty.

"Here," Kagome said, sliding him the rest of her lunch, "Take the rest of mine." He smiled at her and then tucked into her lunch. She had packed lunch for all of them today. Suddenly, he had an idea. He finished off the rest of her lunch and slid it back to her.

"Thanks." He said.

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He took a deep breath and a few seconds to prepare himself before calling out.

"Sesshomaru, do we have a lunch box?" He took another bracing breath to prepare himself for the conversation that he was about to have. He swore under his breath when he heard footsteps, although he had known that Sesshomaru wouldn't just respond, he would just _have_ to see Inuyasha packing a lunch.

"And why do you need a lunchbox?"

"To pack a lunch," Inuyasha said.

"For who?" There was an evil glint in Sesshomaru's eyes that spelt trouble for Inuyasha.

"For me," Inuyasha said, "I just felt like having lunch tomorrow."

"They Have a lunchroom at your school."

"That food is disgusting."

Inuyasha knew Sesshomaru was fishing for information to use against him to try and make his life miserable. It was Sesshomaru's favorite thing to do. But Inuyasha wasn't about to tell Sesshomaru about Kagome. No, Sesshomaru would find a way to screw that up for sure. Inuyasha honestly wouldn't be surprised if Sesshomaru came to his school just to meet her and try to pry information out of her, or to scare her off just for the hell of it. Sesshomaru also knew that Inuyasha would never pack a lunch for himself, which meant there was someone Inuyasha was packing lunch for.

"Is it possible that there is someone that you're making a lunch for?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Who the hell would I be making lunch for?" Inuyasha asked, "like you pointed out the other day, I ain't got any friends."

"Perhaps." Sesshomaru said. It looked like he was going to say something else, but at that moment Sesshomaru's phone rang, and he was distracted.

"Oi, Sesshomaru! Lunchbox!" Inuyasha said indignantly. Sesshomaru turned and pointed impatiently at a cabinet before sweeping out of the kitchen, talking to the second-in-command of his of his company.

Inuyasha turned to the cabinet and opened the door, and dug through the contents until he found the lunchbox. Perfect, they had two. Now the only issue was what to make. Inuyasha didn't know how to cook, nothing special anyway. He'd just have to make a combination of all the random things he'd learned from his mother before she died.

He made a mental checklist of all the things that he knew how to make: rice balls, hot dogs, sandwiches, and omelets. Not a very good checklist, but it was something. It's been awhile since he'd made anything, so he might burn it, and Sesshomaru would be pissed, but he would try.

Within five minutes there was smoke rising from the omelet that Inuyasha had tried to make, and the entire kitchen was Hazy. Inuyasha coughed and waved a hand in front of his face as Sesshomaru walked in.

"I'm curious Inuyasha," he said, his voice muffled by the hand he had over his mouth and nose. Sesshomaru had an even more sensitive sense of smell than Inuyasha had. "was your goal in this to burn the house down or is this just a fun twist?"

"Shut up and help me out!" Inuyasha called, grabbing the pan off of the stove and running to the sink. Inuyasha couldn't see him, but he knew Sesshomaru was rolling his eyes as he opened the windows so the smoke would clear.

"What exactly were you trying to make before you almost killed us?"

"...An omelet."

"Did you grease the pan before you put the egg in." _Oops,_ Inuyasha thought. _I knew I was forgetting something._ Sesshomaru took his silence as confirmation. "You're an idiot."

"Hey, I haven't cooked anything since I was a kid, it's hardly my fault I forgot something!"

"It is your fault you tried to cook when you didn't remember how."

"Alright fine, you win. How do you make rice balls?" Sesshomaru gave Inuyasha the most exasperated look he'd ever seen, and explained the process. It was a good thing Inuyasha asked because he had it all wrong.

 _Wow, it really has been a long time._

"Try not to burn the house down, moron," were Sesshomaru's parting words.

After that, while the process was by no means smooth, Sesshomaru didn't end up having to call the firemen, so Inuyasha counted that as a win on his part. Inuyasha was about to leave the kitchen, with the lunch boxes sitting on the counter when Sesshomaru walked back through.

"You have to put them in the refrigerator or you'll get food poisoning you moron. I'm not paying for your medical bills, or the bills of whatever poor broad you've decided to subjugate to your toxic food."

"Shut up," Inuyasha replied, feeling his face heat up. He stored the lunches in the refrigerator and fled from his brother's presence before Sesshomaru did something else to provoke him.

He'd asked Sango to make sure that Kagome forgot to pack them a lunch in the morning, and she'd grinned at him knowingly. A little too knowingly for his liking, but it had been too late to take it back. He trusted Sango to keep her end of the deal, now he just had to not kill her with his food. Hopefully he wouldn't accidentally poison her.

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Kagome looked up apologetically at him when he entered the room.

"Hey, INuyasha, I'm really sorry, I forgot our lunch today," she said, looking guilty.

"That's alright," He replied, "I brought it today." He pulled the lunchboxes out of his backpack and set them on her desk.

She blinked up at him, surprised, and then looked down at the lunchboxes, her lips parting slightly.

"How did you know?" She said, then understanding lit her eyes and she said, "You asked Sango to distract me didn't you?" Inuyasha nodded.

"I figured it was about time I made lunch for you," he said. Just then the teacher walked in and Inuyasha went back to his seat.

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"I'm excited," Kagome said as she sat down next to him on the roof. "I can't wait to see what you made all by yourself."

"Well," Inuyasha said nervously, "not entirely on my own. Sesshomaru told me how to make some of it." Kagome's mouth fell open.

"Sesshomaru did?" She asked incredulously. Inuyasha nodded. "Did you slip him something before hand?" Inuyasha snorted.

"No, I think he just told me what to do so I wouldn't burn the house down. That's why he was in the kitchen, he smelled the smoke."

"Oh no. Did he get mad?"

"Of course he did, but he just called me an idiot a few times and gave me enough pointers that I didn't kill myself trying to said he didn't want to pay my medical bills." Kagome half snorted.

"Sounds like him."

"Yup."

"But let's eat, I'm starving." Inuyasha's nerves came back. The lunches Kagome made were always so well put together and good, and he knew his would look like a disaster.

"Don't get your hopes up, it won't be that great."

"I'm sure it will be fantastic," she said encouragingly. Inuyasha mumbled something incoherent and passed Kagome her lunch. He'd given her the better of the two, which he'd discovered she'd been doing for him all along. He watched her face carefully as she opened it and examined the contents.

He grimaced at them. There were a few half sandwiches, three rice balls, a broken omelet, and some hot dogs cut to look like octopi. She stared at them for a moment before a smile spread across her face. She reached down and grabbed a piece of omelette with her fingers and popped it into her mouth. He winced as she chewed, thinking it must taste terrible.

"I love it," she said, "this is wonderful Inuyasha. Thank you, this was very sweet." Inuyasha looked at the ground to try and conceal the fact that his face had heated up. The heat in his face flared up even more when Kagome leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He felt his heart skip a beat, then start back up at a ridiculous speed. He gulped and choked out a response.

"No problem, you do it for me everyday."

He avoided looking at her by digging into his own lunch. It was nowhere near as good as her had been, but it also wasn't as terrible as he had expected. The rice balls fell apart in their hands, but Kagome didn't seem to mind. She seemed to be unusually good cheer, which was saying something, because Kagome was always optimistic.

"What's up with you?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" She replied, popping a piece of the broken rice ball into her mouth.

"You seem awfully happy."

"I'm always happy," she said.

"Not this happy. You're humming. You never hum."

"I hum sometimes."

"Not really."

"I'm just in a good mood today, alright?" Kagome said.

"It's weird."

"Thanks."

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Over the next week things at Inuyasha's house deteriorated. Sesshomaru was in an even worse mood than usual, and taking it out on Inuyasha. No surprise there, not really. This was the longest amount of time that Inuyasha had spent consecutively at his brother's house, and things were getting strained. Inuyasha had almost punched Sesshomaru for some offhanded comment he had made, and Sesshomaru had simply shoved Inuyasha out of the way rather than telling him to move that morning. Inuyasha could tell that things were going to come to a head soon, and it would be bad. He'd probably end up having to take Kagome up on her offer soon.

It would have been better if he'd just taken a few days a week or so ago at Kagome's, because it might have helped diffuse the tension between him and his brother, and his feelings for Kagome had only grown. He'd noticed Miroku and Sango watching him when he was around her, and Miroku had went so far as to call Kagome 'his girlfriend.' He had moments of panic where he thought Kagome might know that he liked her, but they passed.

"How are things at home?" Kagome asked at lunch.

"Is your offer about the guest room still open?" He asked bluntly. She nodded.

"That bad?" Inuyasha nodded.

"We've never been together for this long before, and things are getting really tense. I'll have to leave soon." Kagome nodded.

"I'll make up the guest bedroom."

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It happened that night. Sesshomaru walked into the kitchen ere Inuyasha was, and Inuyasha could tell he was pissed. He didn't know why, but he could tell that the usual calmness of his brothers face was hiding a storm tonight. Maybe he was just tired of seeing Inuyasha around the house, maybe Jaken had done something stupid. It didn't really matter why he was pissed, not really.

"I assume that since you didn't try to pack your lunch again, whatever woman was pathetic enough to give you the time of day went running when she saw your sorry cooking skills."

"Shut up, Sesshomaru," Inuyasha snapped. He knew Sesshomaru was just trying to get under his skin, and that he shouldn't let it bother him, but he couldn't stop his temper from flaring right up. "It's none of your business who I spend my time with."

"Oh but I think it is," Sesshomaru persisted, the venom in his voice thinly veiled. "You see, I don't think our father would have wanted me to allow you to hang out with undesirables." Inuyasha growled low in his throat. He knew where Sesshomaru was heading with this, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep his temper reigned in.

"It's a good thing that I don't, then."

"I find it hard to believe that anyone else would want to spend anytime with you."

"I think you're confusing me with yourself, because no one but that little slave of yours wants to be around you, and that's only because he's stupid enough to be in love with you." He knew that he shouldn't have said that about Jaken, and that it would only serve to fuel Sesshomaru's rage further, but he was already fired up, and he wasn't very reasonable.

"People happen to be drawn to people of power, not pathetic little low life shrimps like you." Inuyasha scoffed.

"What sort of power do you have other than the power of our family name? You've never done anything worthwhile in your life, you're just skating by on the coattails of our dead dad, taking credit for the things he's done. You're even more pathetic than I am!" Saying that was a mistake.

Before Inuyasha even had time to blink he was sent flying across the room and into the refrigerator, where he slid to the floor. He reached up and rubbed his jaw, where Sesshomaru had punched him. He had known saying that would be the final straw for Sesshomaru, and yet he had done it anyway. Maybe a little part of him that he didn't want to acknowledge really wanted to stay with Kagome. _Probably._

Inuyasha climbed to his feet and faced Sesshomaru, holding up his fists to defend himself. Sesshomaru advanced on him, looking murderous.

"You stupid, ungrateful, piece of shit. You have no right to talk about our father like you knew him. You and that useless mother of yours were nothing but parasites from the moment you arrived here." Inuyasha lashed out with his fist, trying to ht Sesshomaru in the face. He only grazed him.

"You shut the hell up!" He shouted.

Sesshomaru's next punch landed hard in Inuyasha's side. The air rushed out of his lungs, his vision blurred. Inuyasha lashed out blindly, and felt his fist connect with flesh. Sesshomaru grunted, then grabbed Inuyasha's shoulders and slammed him back up against the refrigerator. Inuyasha managed to clip Sesshomaru's jaw, and his head snapped to the side. Inuyasha took that opportunity to slip out of his brothers grip and land a kick in his side. Sesshomaru spun around and leapt on Inuyasha, bringing them both crashing to the ground. Inuyasha's head smacked the tile floor, hard, and his vision blacked out.

He felt Sesshomaru punch him in the face a few more times before he got up, dealing one last vicious kick to INuyasha side before he left the kitchen, apparently having better things to do than kick Inuyasha's ass. Inuyasha groaned, then rolled onto his side and spat a mouthful of blood on the tile. _Leave that for that bastard to clean,_ he thought. Inuyasha stayed long enough to grab a change of clothes and his book bag before limping out of the door and down the street, in the direction of Higurashi shrine.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He leaned against the doorframe tiredly as he waited for her to come to the door, and when she did he regretted not bothering to clean up a bit before coming over. The look of horror and worry on her face when her eyes landed on him made him feel worse than anything Sesshomaru had done.

" _Kami-sama,_ " she gasped. "Inuyasha are you alright?" He grinned lopsidedly down at her.

"I've had worse," that didn't seem to have the effect he had planned, in fact, it had the reverse. She looked even more worried. "I'm fine," he amended. Kagome looked doubtful, and her eyes were still shining with worry as she told him to come in and led him to the kitchen.

Her house wasn't as big as the mansion that Inuyasha's brother owned, but it felt much more like a home. It was cozy and warm, and he could tell there was a loving family living in it. The rooms were comfortably cluttered, and in some places the walls had been drawn on. Inuyasha found himself wondering if Kagome had done that herself when she was little. He noticed the doorframe on the way into the kitchen had heights and ages next to them. He smiled. Kagome's childhood seemed like it had been nice. He was glad.

"Sit," she ordered, and he collapsed gladly into one of the chairs surrounding the table. "What happened?" She asked, opening the freezer and getting ice to make a compress.

"Hey, you don't have to do that,I'm fine."

"Like hell you are," she snapped. Inuyasha blinked, stunned silent. Kagome _never_ swore. "What happened?" She repeated, handing him the compress. He placed it on his face, if only to keep Kagome from snapping at him again. She turned and moved to the sink, wetting a rag as he spoke.

"Me and Sesshomaru finally got into a fight."

"Obviously." It seemed like the simple explanation wasn't going to be enough for her.

"We were insulting each other like we usually do, but then I said that he had never done anything worthwhile, and he was only riding on the coattails of our father, and he snapped and hit me."

"He hit you first?" Inuyasha wasn't sure what she was going to do with the information, but he nodded anyway. She nodded like she was filing the information away somewhere. "Did you at least get in a few good hits?"

"A couple."

"Good." Inuyasha snorted. He'd never know Kagome to be happy with violence ever. She sat down on the table in front of him and leaned down, moving his hand and the cold compress out of the way. She reached up and dabbed his forehead, clicking her tongue. She leaned forward, focusing on his injuries. He supposed Sesshomaru must have broken his skin. He winced when the rag made contact with his face, and when he opened his eyes again, Kagome so so very close to him.

His breath caught in his throat, and his heart started racing, but Kagome didn't seem to notice his distress. He squirmed uncomfortably, but didn't move any further away.

"Don't be such a baby," Kagome said, "It doesn't hurt that bad." She grabbed his chin and forced his face upwards. "There, now I don't have to slouch so much." She straightened a little, and Inuyasha's breath eased up a bit. His heart was still thundering, and each brush of her skin against his sent a jolt through his spine.

He did his best to focus on other things, but it was kind of hard when she was so close to him. She shifted her position on the table, and then her legs were pressed up against his side, their warmth seeping through his clothes. Without realizing it he leaned into them, pressing closer. Kagome noticed, but assumed that he was cold or something. She also noticed that if she ever ran into Sesshomaru down a dark alley she would make sure he never left it again, for doing this to Inuyasha.

"What's the matter, Kagome?" Inuyasha breathed, noticing the stormy look in her eyes. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason he felt like if he spoke in normal tones the moment would be shattered.

"It's your brother," she replied, also in a hushed voice, "He's a monster."

"It took you that long to figure that out?" Inuyasha asked, trying to add a little humor into the situation. Kagome didn't laugh.

"I always knew he was a bad person, but I assumed part of what you were saying was an exaggeration. All siblings think their brother or sister is worse than they actually are, I do it with Sota all the time. But, if anything, I think you understated it. I never really knew what you meant when you said he kicked your ass."

"It's alright," he said, "there's no reason to get so upset. It happens all the time."

"That's all the more reason to be upset!" Kagome exclaimed. The sudden loudness broke the quiet of the kitchen like a gunshot, making Inuyasha jump. "Sorry," she said.

"Why do you care so much?" Inuyasha asked. He gazed up at her eyes, which were alight with unspoken rage. He hadn't seen anyone be that passionate about him since his mother had died, and it shocked him to see that anyone could muster up that much rage over how Sesshomaru treated him. Kagome's gaze softened as she looked down at him, something warm now flickering in the depths of her soft brown eyes.

"Because you're my friend," Kagome said. The word sent a pang of longing and regret through him, but he smiled at her anyway.

"No one's ever cared this much about me before," He said quietly, watching as the warmth in her face turned to sadness, very briefly, before her eyes became warm again.

"Well they do now," was her reply.

She slipped off the table to return the washcloth to the sink, and left Inuyasha feeling cold and alone, without her there to keep him warm anymore. He had the impulse to get up and follow after her, then pull her into his arms, and was about to act on it, when he heard the front door open and the sound of several people shuffling in. The sounds locked him in place. Kagome's family was home. He hadn't even realized that they were alone.

"Kagome, we're home!" A woman's voice called. _Kagome's mom._

"We're in here Momma!" Kagome replied.

"Who's we, sis?" Her younger brother. A young boy, no older than nine ran into the room and stop dead in his tracks when he saw Inuyasha.

"Whoa, what happened to you, mister?" He said.

"Sota!" Kagome exclaimed, "Don't be so rude!"

"Sorry."

"Kagome, is this your friend you were telling me about?" A woman who looked a lot like Kagome entered the room, "oh my." She said when she got a load of Inuyasha's face.

"Yes, this is Inuyasha, he and his older brother had a fight and he needs a place to stay."

"You're older brother did _this?_ Whoa!" Sota exclaimed.

"Sota!" Kagome snapped, "don't you have some homework to do or a video game to play?" Taking the hint, Sota ran out of the room, grumbling under his breath.

"What on earth happened to you, young man?" A man who could only be her grandfather asked from the doorway.

"I ran into a wall," Inuyasha said sarcastically.

"There's no need to be rude, you are in my home after all!" The old man snapped.

"There's no need to be rude, grandpa," Kagome's mom said, "he's obviously hurt, so why don't you cut him a little slack?"

"Inuyasha's older brother did it," Kagome told him. "That's why he came here, he needs a place to stay."

"Well we do have an extra bedroom, so that works out nicely for you," Grandpa said, turning away, "stay as long as you like." _That was easy. These people have shown me more hospitality in one night than Sesshomaru has in my entire life._

"Kagome have you already made up the guest room?"

"Yes Mama," she replied.

"Alright then, I'll make him a cold compress and then you can show him up to his room, he looks tired."

"I already made him a cold compress Mama," Kagome said. Mrs. Higurashi smiled.

"Alright then, it's late, and I think Inuyasha might want to get to bed, so why don't you show him to the guest room so he can get some sleep."

"Alright! Come on, Inuyasha, you'll be sleeping upstairs in the room next to Sota."

Inuyasha followed her, but stopped in the doorway. He turned back to Mrs Higurashi.

"I-um, thank you for letting me stay here," he said.

"Don't worry about it dear, stay as long as you need to. Our door is always open." Inuyasha nodded and followed Kagome up the stairs.

"You'll have to share a bathroom with me and Sota," she said, pointing to a door. My room is right there, that's Sota's and this one is yours." She turned the handle of the door in question and opened it, then switched the light on.

The room beyond was unlived in, although it had been decorated like much of the house, with pictures of Kagome and Sota on the walls, although most of them were outdated. With the exception of a photo on the nightstand that had obviously been placed there recently. Within the last week, actually, because he'd remembered when it had been taken.

The last time Sango and Miroku had eaten lunch with them, Kagome had pulled out her phone to take that picture, and Inuyasha couldn't help but smile when he looked at it. Kagome took up much of the right side of the photo, and she was looking over her shoulder and laughing at Miroku, who had a red handprint on his face and was holding his hands up in surrender at the fuming Sango, who looked ready to slap him again. Inuyasha himself was in the background, looking at Miroku with the look of exasperation he often wore around the lecher. Inuyasha looked at Kagome and shrugged sheepishly.

"I thought it might help you feel more at home if there was a picture of our friends in here, because all the other pictures are of me and Sota when we were kids. You can take them down if you want."

"No," Inuyasha replied, "I like them, and thank you. For the picture, for everything." Kagome blinked, surprised, at his sudden change in attitude. She was even more surprised, however, when he reached out and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly to him. "It means a lot."

"It's no problem Inuyasha, I'm happy to help," she squeaked. Inuyasha smiled into her hair and squeezed her tighter.

His entire body was alight with electricity, and he knew pulling Kagome into his arms had been a mistake, no matter how good, and how natural, holding her felt. He wasn't sure he had the strength to let her go. He struggled internally with himself and the voice in his head that was absolutely _screaming_ for him to kiss her. The fact that they were alone upstairs wasn't helping. His heart was pounding so hard against his chest he was sure Kagome could feel it.

 _Go on Inuyasha,_ he told himself, _let her go. Let her go._

 _Don't do it. Kiss her. Kiss her hard, let her know how you feel._

 _Don't. She doesn't feel the same way about you, there's no way she does. You don't want to scare away your only friend over something like this._

 _Kiss her. She likes you, she must, that's why she's offering to let you live with her._

 _No, she's doing it because we're friends. She'd do the same for Sango and Miroku or anyone. Don't mistake her kindness for feelings for you, Inuyasha. You'll only end up getting hurt._

With a gulp, and much difficulty, he pulled away and smiled at her.

"Your mom was right," he croaked, cursing mentally when his voice sounded strange. Hopefully Kagome would chalk it up to him being tired. "I'm really tired." Kagome nodded and backed away, wearing a strange expression.

"I'm going to take a shower, I'll let you know when I'm finished so you can take one too." She said.

"Thanks." Inuyasha slipped into his new room and closed the door.

Promptly, he collapsed face down on the bed, groaning into the pillow.

"Get ahold of yourself Inuyasha," he said, his voice muffled, "you can't just go around hugging her like that!" He slid a hand between the mattress and his chest to feel his still racing heart.

 _You're in deep shit, Inuyasha. Deep, deep shit._

x x x

"Inuyasha, the shower's all yours!" Kagome called. Inuyasha rolled off the bed and onto his feet. He knew she'd gotten out of the shower several minutes ago, he'd been listening to her dry her hair and sing some song he'd never heard before. "I already left some towels in there for you, and if you need pajamas I'm sure you can borrow something of Granpa's."

"Thanks," Inuyasha called back. He opened the door and stopped short. What felt like all the blood in his body rushed to his face as he caught sight of Kagome slipping into her bedroom and shutting the door, clad in nothing but a towel. He made a strange half groan half yelp and sprang back into his room, his heart going wild and his stomach turning flips. _Damn it,_ he thought. _Damn it, damn it, damn it. I don't know if I can do this, living with her. I can't handle that again, I'm going to go crazy._

He took a few deep breaths and braved the hallway again, heading into the bathroom. What he needed now was a cold shower.

x x x

He let his long black hair hang down his back still wet. He didn't bother to blow it dry like Kagome had.

"You'll catch a cold if you leave it like that," Kagome said as he left the bathroom, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Yea, sure, it's fine," he managed, still recovering from that shock. He wouldn't have been nearly as surprised if he hadn't just been thinking about her, and if he hadn't assumed that she had already went to bed.

After what he'd seen earlier he hardly dared to look at her, but thankfully she was wearing her pajamas now. They had long sleeves and long pants with cat prints all over them.

"Cute pajamas," he said, only half teasing her. They really were cute, if not a little childish.

"You too," she said, giving him a sarcastic smile.

"Shut up, I didn't think to bring any pajamas, alright?" Kagome's eyes were alight with amusement.

"You don't look, um, that bad," she said, clearly searching hard for something good to say that wasn't a lie.

The truth was, he looked ridiculous. The pajamas were obviously made for old men, and were two sizes too big. The shirt hung off of him like a tent, and he had to hold the pants up with one hand or they'd fall off of him. Kagome looked at him sympathetically as he hiked the pants up again.

"Sorry, Gramps likes his clothes baggy when he sleeps. I got the smallest thing he had."

"It's alright, I probably won't sleep in them anyway," he said, without thinking. Kagome's eyes widened slightly and her cheeks turned faintly pink. Inuyasha swore mentally when he felt his own cheeks flushing. Hopefully she wouldn't notice. There was a brief and very awkward silence.

"Well, I'll have to remember that when I wake you up in the morning," He blinked at her, then chuckled when he saw her smile.

"Don't worry, I've never been one to throw the blankets off in my sleep."

"I'm glad, there are certain things that I don't want to know about you, Inuyasha," she laughed, then turned around and walked back into her room, leaving Inuyasha gazing after her.

xx xx xx xx

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried, pounding on the door, "Last call! Five minutes and I'm coming in with my eyes covered and a glass of cold water!"

"You wouldn't," Inuyasha groaned, rolling over and pulling the pillow over his head.

"You sure about that?" She asked, her voice issuing a challenge.

 _Actually,_ He thought, _I'm not._ He groaned and rolled off the bed and onto his feet. He walked to the door and opened it, heading to the hall and the bathroom to borrow Kagome's brush. They both stopped dead when they saw each other, Kagome was holding a glass of water, and the look of irritation faded as she looked at him, and suddenly he realized he forgot to put on the Pajamas she had lent him, so he was only wearing his underwear. They cried out at the same time.

"Why are you naked?" She shrieked.

"My five minutes weren't even close to up!" He said, pointing at the water in her hand, she glanced at it and grinned.

"I was just going to make a point so you knew I wasn't kidding!"

"That's so mean!"

"You're still naked!" She reminded him. He looked down at himself and flushed, then retreated into his room to put on some clothes. He came back out fully dressed, to see Kagome emerging from her little brothers room with an empty glass of water. Beyond her he heard Sota spluttering, and knew that she had dumped the water that had once been intended for him on her little brother.

"You're the devil," He told her. She rolled her eyes at him and walked down the stairs, probably to put the glass away. He walked into the bathroom to brush his hair and teeth.

When he looked at the bruises from last night's fight with his brother he winced, they looked even worse than he had thought they would. Maybe because Kagome hadn't reacted he had thought they weren't so bad. While he was poking at his eye and wincing, (to what purpose this served he wasn't sure) Kagome walked in, her face looking soft and concerned.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey," he replied.

"Those bruises on your stomach," she began, and Inuyasha swore mentally, he hadn't told Kagome about them because he hadn't wanted to see the look of horror on her face when she found out Sesshomaru had kicked him while he was down.

"It's fine," he said.

"They didn't look fine, are you sure your ribs aren't broken?"

"Nah, I'm fine. Sesshomaru's broken my ribs before, I know the feeling," he watched her face carefully in the mirror. He could tell she was horrified, but trying hard to hide it. She must know how he hated the look she got whenever he talked about his fights with his brother.

"How did they happen, the bruises? You didn't mention him hitting you in the side?" He knew she was fishing, and that she must already suspect what he wasn't telling her. _Damn her for being so smart,_ he thought.

"He didn't hit me in the side," Inuyasha said. Kagome raised her eyebrows in a fashion that Inuyasha now recognized as _keep talking._ "He kicked me."

"He kicked you?" She asked, her voice kept carefully neutral. "When he shoved you against the refrigerator?" Her voice told him she didn't think that was the case.

"Look, it doesn't matter, okay? I'm fine, I'll be healed up in a few days, a week tops."

"It matters to me," she muttered, "because if he's been kicking you while you're down, I'll-I'll..." Her voice trailed away as she brooded over whatever it is she wanted to do. Her brown eyes, usually so cheerful and bright, were dark and stormy, filled with rage.

"Listen, Sesshomaru is one of the most powerful men in Japan, there's nothing either of us can do to hurt him."

Kagome's teeth clenched, and she looked ready to explode. Inuyasha had never seen her his angry.

"Just calm down," he said, reaching out for her. She sighed when his hand landed on her waist, and her eyes dropped from his own to where the bruises were. She reached out slowly, and Inuyasha froze when he realized what she was going to do. She didn't seem to be thinking about what she was doing when she lifted the hem of his shirt up and inspected the discolored skin. Inuyasha didn't move an inch, afraid that if he did, he would do something he regretted.

 _So close, so close, so close,_ was all he could think. He stared at her face as she looked, wincing, at his bruises. The anger had all but left, and now her eyes had filled with concern and caring. It'd been a long time since someone had cared enough about him to look at him like that, and it made his heart do somersaults. He sucked in a breath when her fingers brushed his skin, sending a jolt through his whole body. _Damn,_ he thought. _You need to get ahold of yourself._ She looked up at him, seemed to realize what she was doing. Her face flushed suddenly, and she stammered out an apology.

"S-sorry."

"It's fine," his voice sounded strange to his own ears, luckily, Kagome didn't notice.

x x x

Compared to that, then next few mornings were uneventful. Inuyasha was careful both to get up as soon as Kagome told him to, and get dressed before he left his room. There were no more close calls in the hallway with one of them dressed only in a towel, and Inuyasha was grateful. However, as he began to spend more and more time with Kagome, alone in her room studying, alone in his room talking, he became aware that he wouldn't be able to remain friends with her much longer, at least not without doing something. Maybe if he told her and she didn't feel the same way they could still be friends? He knew he had to tell her soon, at least. He was going out of his mind.

"Listen, I need some advice," he said one day to Miroku.

"Just ask her out already," he said, sounding exasperated.

"I don't know- wait what? How did you know what I was going to say?" Inuyasha asked.

"Because Sango and I have been waiting for you to ask her out for months now."

"Whaddya mean, months?" Inuyasha said indignantly.

"You haven't exactly been doing a good job hiding it," Miroku said. Inuyasha felt his stomach plummet.

"Do you think that she," Inuyasha let his voice trail away, gulping. What if she knew, what if she had known this whole time and not done anything? Did that mean she didn't feel the same way?

"No," Miroku said, and Inuyasha sighed in relief, "which is why you have to ask her out." Inuyasha nodded.

"How though?"

x x x

They were laying on his bed, side by side, listening to music from her ipod. He had been psyching himself up for three songs, trying to ask her out. Finally, as the final bars of the song played, Inuyasha told himself _it's now or never._

"So, Kagome," he began.

"What's up?"

"Well I was wondering if you wanted to go like, see a movie or something this weekend," he said this fast, the words practically tumbling out of his mouth. _At least that's over with._

"Sure," she said brightly, "what movie?"

"Uh," Inuyasha said. He didn't think that she had understood. "Like, on a date, Kagome." She was quiet for a while, and Inuyasha was sure that she could hear the pounding of his heart over their music.

"A date?"

"Y-yea. I-I like you. A lot." A few seconds of silence more.

"I'm glad," she said.

"W-what?" He held his breath, hardly daring to believe it.

"I'm glad you do, because if you didn't things would get a little awkward, don't you think?" _Why would it be- is she saying she likes me back?_ He blinked at her, and Kagome chuckled, knowing that he probably was just going to keep laying there, blinking dumbly at her. "I like you too, Inuyasha."

"Y-you do?"

"Yeah, I do."

Inuyasha couldn't help it, his face split into a grin, and he laughed.

"Good," he said. Kagome rolled her eyes at him, smiling, and Inuyasha was struck by a sudden thought. _I've been dying to do this for ages._ He leaned in close to her, his heart beating wildly, and kissed her. He could feel her smiling as she tangled her hands in his hair.

It was the happiest he'd been in living memory.


End file.
